AT&T Claims Completion of the World’s First 5G Connection

You’re going to hear a lot of claims about “5G firsts” as the leading telecom companies slug it out to deliver the next generation of wireless. And one just came from AT&T.

The company says it has successfully completed the “world’s first millimeter wave” 5G connection over a live network to what will be commercially available “standards-based” commercial mobile 5G device.

Did your eyes just cross? Let’s break this down a bit first.

So, 5G is the next generation of wireless that will likely take technology to the next level, making today’s tech-supported reality look a bit more like what we see in our favorite sci-fi films, with wicked smart devices, autonomous cars, and smart cities. And some of the baby steps toward this will probably start with smarter, faster phones running on 5G networks.

With AT&T’s test, the device used was a NETGEAR Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot, rather than a mobile 5G smartphone. You know, the device a phone or tablet connects to for accessing Wi-Fi.

AT&T’s test was completed in Waco, Texas, which is one of a dozen previously named cities where AT&T says it will be the first carrier in the U.S. to deliver mobile 5G service.

Among its other promised launch cities for this year are Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Louisville, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Raleigh, and San Antonio, with 19 others slated for early 2019.